Photogenic predator: Coeloid cephalopods, a group of shell-less molluscs, evolved at around the time when vertebrates started to conquer land. As visual predators, they competed against early fi shes and developed remarkable complexity of body and behaviour. The photo shows the octopus Wunderpus photogenicus, found in shallow waters from Indonesia to the Philippines. (Photo: Roy L. Caldwell.) F...

The Krapina fossils are the largest collection of Neandertals known, representing a unique opportunity to examine Neandertal variation at a single place and time. Because of the nature of the assemblage, knowledge about the collection as a whole must be obtained from the analyses of the individual skeletal elements. In this work I present a summary of a subset of the Krapina fragments, the occi...

The squamous occipital bone consists of two parts: a cartilaginous supraoccipital part below and a membranous interparietal (IP) part above the highest nuchal line. The IP part develops from two pairs of ossification centres which form the two lateral plates and a median central piece. Any anomalous ossification of these centres gives rise to IP bones. Occasional separate ossified part of the I...

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein that is critical for the regulation of red blood cell production. During embryonic development, Epo is mainly expressed in the fetal liver. However, as hematopoiesis switches sites from the fetal liver to the bone marrow, peritublular interstitial cells of the kidney support EPO production. Epo expression is tightly regulated by spatial, temporal and envir...

Osteoporosis is a complex disease characterized by a reduction in bone mass with associated bone microarchitectural deterioration and a high risk of fractures. Although environmental factors like nutrition and mechanical load, as well as lifestyle, may influence the development of the disease, family and twin pair studies have suggested that there is also a strong genetic component in a predisp...

TEXTBOOK: Carlson CS, Weisbrode SE Chapter 16Bones and Joints. In: Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Diseases, 5th Edition. Elsevier, 2012. pp 920-971. References: http://people.upei.ca/lopez/ Thompson K. Bones and Joints in: Jubb, Kennedy, Palmer. Pathology of Domestic Animals, MG Maxie editor, 5 edition., vol. 1. Academic Press 2007. Samuelson DA. Textbook of Veterinary Histology, 1st edition. S...

How meals become bones mylin, a hormone produced along with insulin after food intake, is vital for strengthening bones, according to Dacquin et al. (page 509). A lack of amylin production in type I (autoimmune) diabetics may explain the prominent bone loss in these individuals—a problem that amylin replacement therapy may alleviate. When food is short, strengthening bone may not be the body's ...

lates collagen production solely through its direct role in proline hydroxylation was investigated. Proteins in calvarial bones from control and scorbutic weanling guinea pigs were labeled in short-term cultures with radioactive proline. Proteins were digested with purified bacterial collagenase to distinguish between effects on collagen polypeptide production and hydroxyproline formation. Ther...

It has been at least a decade since the introduction of extra-corporeal shock-wave treatment (ESWT) for the treatment of non-unions. Despite conflicting opinions in the literature, it is recently experiencing a revival. This paper reports our experience with Ossa Tron, which produces shock-waves electro-hydraulically, on 5 patients. The two successful cases experienced remarkable results of uni...

Intermuscular bones are found in the myosepta in teleosts. However, there is very little information on the development and ossification of these intermuscular bones. In this study, we performed an in-depth investigation of the ossification process during development in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica). In Japanese eel, a typical anguilliform swimmer, the intermuscul...